


Fight Me

by katebishops



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-07-29 14:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7687372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katebishops/pseuds/katebishops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Holtzmann wants to do is fight the cute nurse (and maybe make out with her too).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fight Me

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this tumblr post](http://officialcadbane.tumblr.com/post/121299145514/ohsebs-ohsebs-ohsebs-my-nurse-just-came-in). I tweaked the prompt a little bit to make it more Holtzmann (you'll see which part).

This should not be unexpected, Holtzmann groggily reflected. In fact, it was a miracle she hadn't been injured more seriously. But sometimes genius doesn't care about the limits of the human body. At least, that's what she told Patty to stop her from worrying. It hasn't worked. Still, a (very slightly) nuclear machine of hers had almost blown up and she just had broken ribs and various bruises. She must have a guardian angel.

Either way, the pain meds she was on felt pretty awesome.

"Abby!" she cried with delight. "Look at you! Oh, and Patty's here too!" She tried to dance in her hospital bed because she was so excited; her friends were there and look at how beautiful they are! All women are beautiful, Holtz thought with a smile.

"Oh man, you weren't kidding. She is seriously drugged up," Patty said.

"I guess that means we have to wait to yell at her," Abby said, clearly angry. Her anger came from a place of love and worry though.

"Yell at me?" Holtz gasped dramatically. "But...why?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about your stupid ass being reckless and almost blowing you and the whole lab up? You gonna give us both heart attacks. Look at you, all hurt," Patty said. She had also been given a fright. Neither of the other women were at the lab, they just got separate calls from the hospital and made it there in record time. It seemed very wrong to see Holtzmann in a bed, surrounded by a mountain of pillows, with a breathing tube looking very small.

"I'm barely hurt!" she exclaimed. "In fact, I'm ready to bust some ghosts! I could fight anyone right now!"

Patty and Abby shared a look, trying hard to stifle their laughter. "Sure, baby, whatever you say."

Just then, an orderly poked his head in the door. "Visiting hours are over, ladies, I'm sorry."

Abby sighed. "Alright, we'll be back tomorrow, okay?" She ruffled Holtz's hair which was down for once, then leaned in to hug her.

"You enjoy that hospital food," Patty said. "No salty parabolas for people who blow things up, got it?" She laughed at the pout on her friend's face and gave her a hug as well.

Holtz waved goodbye with both arms flailing wildly and a huge grin on her face.

"Ooh boy, she is enjoying those drugs," Patty said in a low voice. She and Abby looked at each other and immediately cracked up as they walked through the fluorescent hallway.

Now alone, Holtz was bored. There was nothing good to watch on the TV and she didn't have any books to read or blueprints to work on. She tried to make herself more comfortable, rearranging the several pillows Patty had brought her. She was nearly asleep when she heard the door open. She cracked open an eye lazily...and immediately both eyes opened widely as she struggled to sit up. Standing in front of her was an actual angel, with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, dark blue eyes, and an adorable button nose.

"Come here often?" she asked the beautiful woman in maroon scrubs. She threw in a signature Holtzmann wink to be safe. The nurse immediately blushed and couldn't meet her patient's eyes.

"I'm nurse Gilbert," she said. "I'm just here to check your vitals."

Holtz grinned wickedly. She couldn't get up from her pillows but she was still appreciating the view as nurse Gilbert bustled around, checking up on the monitor and taking her blood pressure. "How's your breathing?" she asked. "We always want to keep an eye on breathing when it comes to broken ribs."

She momentarily considered making a joke about the nurse taking her breath away, but after a sharp inhale that was accompanied by a stab of pain in her chest she decided to take it seriously.

"It's not great," she admitted. "It hurts, especially when I laugh or cough."

"I think your medicine's wearing off, we'll have to see about getting you another dose," she murmured, more to herself than to Holtz.

After a few more minutes of the nurse doing things the engineer didn't really understand, she started to leave. Suddenly she remembered what Abby and Patty had said. What better way to test how she's doing than with a fight?

"Fight me!" she yelled from under all her pillows.

Nurse Gilbert smiled as she began rearranging the pillows so they didn't make her patient uncomfortable. "Maybe later."

 

Later turned out to be the next evening after Patty and Abby had gone home. Apparently nurse Gilbert worked the night shift, not that Holtz cared at all. She beamed at the nurse as she checked her vitals. Today she was wearing sky blue scrubs instead of the maroon ones from the day before. Her hair was still pulled back in a ponytail, her thick bangs nearly hanging in her eyes. "Hey nurse Gilbert," she said.

"You can call me Erin," she responded.

"Ooh, Erin. Is that with an E for everything you want?"

Erin blushed furiously but, Holtz noted with interest, kept peeking at her out of the corner of her eyes. This was progress. Hopefully good progress, not “my nurse sued me for sexually harassing her while she was working” progress.

"Anyway I just wanted to remind you that you said you'd fight me, so fi-" she cut off abruptly and began coughing. Her throat had been dry all day but she hadn't been speaking much until now. She couldn't stop and coughing with her broken ribs hurt a lot. Immediately Erin brought her a small plastic cup of ice water and rubbed her back as she helped her take small sips.

"Shh, there you go," she said in a soft, comforting voice. "Small sips, and then we'll get you some more pain meds so it doesn't hurt so much to cough."

Eventually the coughing subsided, and although her ribs were on fire Holtz wasn't going to complain about having beautiful Erin so close. Her hand was still gently stroking Holtz's back. She turned to the nurse and beamed.

“How’re you feeling when you’re not having a cough attack?” Erin murmured in a low voice.

“I could really go for some salty parabolas, but the ribs are alright,” Holtz responded, the smile not leaving her face.

“Salty parabolas? What are those?” she asked.

“You’re a very clever woman, I’m sure you can figure it out,” Holtz drawled. “Either way, I’m hungry and I want some.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I think you’re stuck with the hospital food for now,” Erin said, a smile creeping up on her face. Holtz stuck her tongue out at that which made the nurse laugh softly.

"Alright," Erin said, suddenly realizing she was too close than what could be considered professional. "I should - I have other patients," she stammered. "I'll be back tomorrow, and you have the call button if you need anything."

"Wait," Holtz called to Erin's retreating back. She turned around. "You never agreed to fight me!"

Erin smiled. "I'm not going to fight you."

Holtz pouted. "Why not?"

"Because I know you'll win." As she left, Holtz couldn't stop the delighted smile from completely taking over her face.

 

The next evening, Holtzmann was finally being released. It was only a three day stay, but for someone as restless and full of energy as her it may as well have been a lifetime. She was under strict instructions from the doctors on what she could and couldn’t do (mostly what she couldn’t do). Patty and Abby seemed determined to make her stick to the rules.

“I _will_ send your ass back to the hospital to eat terrible Jello,” Patty had threatened. Holtzmann believed her.

The three were walking out, Holtz finally wearing her regular clothes instead of the uncomfortable gown. She had her yellow goggles on and her hair done up. She felt better already. Just being in the hospital had made her skin crawl. Still, it hadn’t been a completely horrible visit, she mused. She had come up with two new invention ideas she couldn’t wait to start the blueprints on, she had Abby and Patty visit every day, and of course nurse Erin Gilbert was the highlight. She tried not to be upset when she thought about how she’d probably never see her again. As the trio turned a corner towards the exit, she heard fast footsteps behind her.

“WAIT!” a voice yelled. The three women turned to see Erin running down the hallway, juggling her nurse’s clipboard and a tube of Pringles.

“I heard you were being discharged,” she said. “And I thought…I mean…since you’re not my patient,” she stammered. Erin was blushing furiously. After a moment, she finally sighed and thrust the red tube at Holtz. She smiled delightedly.

“So you figured it out!”

“I did, yes,” she said. “Anyway, these are for you.”

Holtzmann grinned at her. That seemed to be a permanent condition around Erin. She couldn’t help it; the nurse was just so damn cute.

“Well thank you very much,” she said, taking the Pringles container. She didn’t mention she had plenty stashed around her workroom.

“Come on, Holtzy,” Patty said. “Abby went and got the car, let’s go before she gets a ticket for parking in a no parking zone.”

“Ahh, alright,” she said, trying to find a way to linger with Erin. If she’d never see her again, she might as well make this conversation last. But to her dismay, Erin flushed pink and started to walk away. She frowned at that. _I guess she wasn’t interested after all,_ she thought sadly. As Patty helped her climb in the backseat, she put the Pringles in the cup holder.

“Hey, what’s that writing?” Abby asked curiously from the front seat.

“What writing?”

“On the Pringles, there’s some sharpie there,” Patty pointed out.

She snatched the bright red tube and checked. Sure enough, in black permanent marker the words “Fight me?” followed by ten digits were scrawled. An absolutely huge smile took over Holtzmann’s face.

“Hey, Patty?” she asked. “Can you hand me my phone?”

**Author's Note:**

> It feels like I've been working on this fic for forever, when it's only been a couple of weeks. I've had really bad writer's block if that excuses it? I know this doesn't seem like the "took over a month" kind of fic, and I wish it was better but I wanted to get it posted before I went on vacation. Tell me what you thought, and yell at me to write more at mrsjillianholtz dot tumblr dot com (I have another fic in progress that I've been working on for even longer, let's see how long that takes).


End file.
